Hazlett, Minato lead Army women past Navy

WEST POINT — Army junior Jen Hazlett had never known what it was like to beat Navy on her home court.

Ken McMillan

WEST POINT — Army junior Jen Hazlett had never known what it was like to beat Navy on her home court.

Freshman Kelsey Minato said she was amped to face the Midshipmen for the first time.

Together, they combined for 34 points and gave Army the spark it needed to take down the two-time defending Patriot League champs 53-42 before a crowd of more than 3,000 Sunday afternoon at Christl Arena. It was Army's first home win over Navy since 2008.

"It's always a big game when we play Navy,'' said Hazlett, who posted 17 points and six rebounds despite suffering from a sinus condition in recent days. "It's always big, especially with both of us going 2-0 into Patriot League play. Coming out on top is always a positive.''

Minato also scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and provided the Black Knights with stability at the point guard position — that was never more important than in the season's first meeting between the two service academies.

Army was able to play the game at its own tempo and avoided getting into a transition game with Navy. On many occasions, the Black Knights were able to go deep into the shot clock and come up with a big basket — part of that was Navy's "complete denial mode" on defense, said Army coach Dave Magarity, and patience on offense allowed the Black Knights to find third and fourth options.

"We made some tough shots,'' Magarity said. "I think if we don't make a couple of those tough shots early, it could have been a different atmosphere to the game, but we did.''

Navy's Jade Geif, the Patriot League's preseason player of the year, had only four points at halftime and had to work hard to finish with 12. Magarity praised the defensive play of post players Aimee Oertner (four blocks, four steals) and Olivia Schretzman to keep Geif in check and allow his other players to focus on Navy's perimeter players. The Midshipmen shot 5-for-14 from beyond the arc.

"We did our job on the perimeter for the most part so (Geif) didn't have anyone to kick out to,'' Hazlett said.

"The thing that's really got me feeling good about this group is "» we give them a game plan and they really make an effort to follow it,'' Magarity said. "Offensively and defensively, we did what we had to do.''

Army (14-4) is off to its second 3-0 start in league play in the past three seasons.

"I thought it was important that we made a statement today,'' Magarity said.

Army opened the second half with baskets by Anna Simmers (11 points), Schretzman and Hazlett to seize a 31-20 lead. A pair of 3-pointers from both Hazlett and Minato allowed Army to extend its lead to 45-30 with 10:14 to play.

"We needed to get stops and we weren't getting those stops,'' Geif said.

Navy (9-9, 2-1 PL) would draw no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

At the sound of the final horn, Army's bench players rushed the court, with some even stumbling to the ground in all the excitement. The Army-Navy matchup was the first for promising freshmen Minato, Oertner and Jean Parker.